Sarah Palin’s Relationship to Me, as a Woman
I’m starting to get a flood of emails and Facebook invites for groups/blogs that want me - as a woman - to proclaim why I - as a woman - am against Sarah Palin for veep.
While I appreciate the well-meaning intention behind these emails/invites - and some actual organization against the McCain/Palin ticket - I’m not joining or contributing to these sites/groups.
Here’s why:
As I woman, I am against the kind of cynical, craven politics that the selection of Sarah Palin represents. I acknowledge that she was chosen, at least partly, on the assumption that there are women out there for whom allegiance to sex trumps common sense and self-interest. (Insanely, it appears that some of these women exist).
But my own allegiance to my gender (or what’s good for my gender) is not why I am against Sarah Palin for vice president.
Yes, she disagrees with my views on abortion and sex education and health care. But I also disagree with her on a vast range of issues outside the traditional concept of ‘women’s issues’.
Asking me to disagree with Sarah Palin ‘as a woman’ boxes me in. It makes gender the defining characteristic for me and all women - be they voters or politicians.
It’s this commonsense reasoning that explains why women politicians are always asked about abortion, education and health care, but rarely about foreign policy or the economy. It’s why the media never interview men about women candidates. It’s the reason why the New York Times saw fit to say that women ‘deserted’ Hillary Clinton in Iowa (9 Jan: 1), but ‘rallied around’ her in New Hampshire (9 Jan: 17).
I don’t vote with my vagina.
And while it annoys me that the McCain campaign thinks I would, being against Palin ‘as a woman’ only compounds the ideology that drove McCain’s decision.
I’m not against her because I’m a woman. I’m against her because I’m an American citizen and she doesn’t represent my interests.
Anyone who would like me to join ‘Americans Against Sarah Palin’, send me a link.
While we’re at it, however, these women-focused Palin groups always seem to come with a great deal of sexist baggage. Here are three of the five comments currently on the Women Not Falling for Sarah Palin as Vice President group I was asked to join:
I heard she stuffs her bra. just sayin..
What a hooker!
…Pass this website onto to anyone who has questions about Professor Palin-Umbridge (for those who “get that”, chuckle chuckle!)
One of the emails I’ve gotten came laden with similar baggage.
So here’s something I feel comfortable saying: as a woman, I call bullshit on supposed feminist rhetoric that uses empty sexist garbage to to cut a woman down.
Sphere: Related Content